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[rosarianoath]

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[rosarianoath]

He accosts her when she comes down with laundry, shuffling out of his room from a nap just in time to take the basket from her hip as she nears the bottom. He can help with that, at least as far as the lifting goes — he has not, unfortunately, gotten any better at cleaning the clothes he sullies. He yawns, still tired, but the look he gives her is pure affection.

“I’ll keep you company, if you’d like,” he says, at least, sitting down on the couch and laying an arm along the backrest.

[noburden]

The look is returned.

"I would like," she tells him. "Yet you are a distraction, I'm afraid."

He can't sit there looking like that, only just waking up. Jill drops beside him for a moment to wrap her arms around his neck for a hug. She misses him when he's not sleeping beside her.

"Good morning." It's not morning. She thinks she's funny.

[rosarianoath]

Clive gives a sleepy chuckle as she hugs him, turning his face to bump his cheek against her forehead, his arm closing gently around her. His hair is tousled, his t-shirt is as bed-warm as the rest of him, and he smells like sweaty sheets, but he’ll shower after he’s had his fill of her love.

“It may as well be morning,” he murmurs. “Should I go, if I’m to distract you?”

[noburden]

She thinks he smells divine. She quietly breathes him in, soaks in how warm he is, and gently pulls back with a hand to his chest.

"I can afford some distraction. The laundry isn't going anywhere."

[rosarianoath]

“That’s a relief,” he says, and almost certainly because of her letter, he cups her face in one big palm and strokes her cheek with his thumb. “I can survive without clean shirts for a few more days…”

[noburden]

And almost certainly because she meant every word in her letter, she leans her face into his palm, tracing her fingers up and down his forearm.

"Only if you mean to stroll around shirtless," she teases, love and playfulness in her eyes. "I wouldn't complain."

[rosarianoath]

“In front of Joshua, surely not,” he murmurs, amused. A state of undress is for the barracks or lovers only. His blue eyes gleam with good humour. “But I will endeavour to find the least offensive shirts.”

[noburden]

"They'll be washed today," she says with a laugh. "I don't expect you to distract me for hours."

Not that she'd particularly mind. Jill's fingers slide to the back of his hand and keeps it steady as she turns her face to press a kiss to his palm.

[rosarianoath]

He’s putty in her hands, and as she kisses his hand he exhales and sags comfortably into the couch, his arm around her gently tightening.

“I could try,” he says, and he passes his thumb over the swell of her lower lip.

[noburden]

"Try how?" She asks, eyes soft as she gazes at him. Writing that letter had been easy, but it had made her miss him all the more. Simply sitting with him, touching, fills her with warmth.

[rosarianoath]

“I could lay you under me and keep you there.” His eyes are half-lidded, lazy. “That ought to work for at least a few hours.”

[noburden]

Too easy. Jill smiles.

"That's my favorite place to be. I would willingly spend days beneath you."

[rosarianoath]

"And it's been a while," he remarks, as if she doesn't know.

[noburden]

"Months," she replies immediately. Time they've needed, she'd say, but it doesn't mean she didn't miss him intimately. "I sent you back down here but every night I wish I hadn't."

[rosarianoath]

Founder, months do fly by, haven't they? Nearly three.

"It's alright," he says. He slides his hand back, through her hair, rounding the back of her head. "We'll be together again when the time is right."

[noburden]

"I don't wish to rush into anything," she tells him, looking into his eyes. "But I also don't wish to lose any more time with you than I have."

[rosarianoath]

He gazes back into her eyes, expression soft.

"I know," he says. "Are you happy with this now?"

[noburden]

"Happy with you? Yes," she says. "I like our letters. I like to think they make us more considerate of one another. I know you better than I did, and I hope you understand my heart better as well."

Even if she's only really just done the one.

[rosarianoath]

“I do know your heart better,” he says, and his hand settles on the back of her neck. “I’m glad we’ve started this.”

[noburden]

She's at ease in his hands, smile widening a touch. She's glad, too.

"You did this for us. It's difficult, but you did it anyway. And I hope you continue to do so, no matter where you lay your head at night." In her bed, their bed, the basement.

"It's just about been a year since we came here, hasn't it?"

[rosarianoath]

“About that,” he says. Thinking about it feels unpleasant in a way he’s grown used to, but he has to live with that. He strokes her hair with his thumb. “I could stay with you some evenings… if you’d like.”

[noburden]

"Of course I would," she tells him. "I miss you. You know that."

[rosarianoath]

I know," he says, but he has to ask. Doubt always slips in: she's happy, but happiness doesn't mean wanting more. "Tonight?"

[noburden]

"Please. Share the bed with me." If she sounds overeager, she doesn't care. It's how she feels.

[rosarianoath]

Her excitement registers easily, and he breaks out a sleepy smile, blinking slow and catlike.

"Alright," he says. "Tonight, then."

That said, there is a growing ridge in his boxers, and he leans into kiss her just so he can shift slightly –– and none too subtly –– so it lays against his belly before it sticks up too noticeably.